St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-28
Speculation as to Whether the Road
viii Parallel or Buy Up the
Homestake Company.
Lead City's Enforced Vassalage to
Deadwoed a Source of In
tense AntagOnism.
Rapid City Beginning to Show Its Hand
THE Probabilities of the Oil
Fields Of Wyoming.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

hdplu Clty, w yOHllllS S w eSteTH Tall
road marrow gauge, is, as local re-
porter expresses it, practically an as
Sured probability" The citizens here
have pledged the $500 per mile bonus
for the first thirty miles asked for by
the projectors. The money was raised
within fOrty-eight hours, and the work
has been begun by the surveyors. Un-
less Mr.. Chapman, the head of the pro-
ject. is deceived or deceiving as to his
backing, see no reason why the road
will mot go along. The thirty miles will
take the track to the southern terminus
Of the Black Hills and Fort Pierre rail
road, a narrow gauge road twenty miles
long. built by the H0mestake Mining
company to supply fuel and timber to
works at Lead City--tluS connecting
Rapid City and the chief mining town
of the hills. The line thus completed
would pass through heavy timber and
tap the richest of our mining regions
Greenwood, Pactola, Ruby Basin, Bald
mountain, Lead City and the project
contemplateS branches into the tin and
petroleum districts, and the road will
pretty well corral the carrying of the
hills proper. All the shipments of ore
to Omaha now come from the districts
named.
WHIT WILL HOMESTAKE DO?
An uncertain factor in the project, as
thus outlined, is the course of the Home
stake company. The end of its track is
only thirteen miles from the line of the
Fremont extension, and it is rumored
that there is an understanding between
the two corporations as to bridging this
gap and giving the Homestake and Lead
City an outlet twenty miles north of
Rapid City-cutting into the plans of
the Chapman narrow gauge. What gives
weight to such reports is the circum-
stauce that the Rapid City, Wyoming
& Western road will parallel the Elk
horn extension the entire distance to
Lead City and take its chief traffic, as
the ElkhOrn lies all the way in the val
ley and the narrow gauge all the way i'll
the timber and mines: also that the
HOmeStake road has served the purpose
of the builders by taking Off all
the timber along its line, and now
they must either extend it into
fresh timber, give it connection and
commercial traffic or sell it. They are
represented as probably not unwilling
to do this, but it is also intimatedto your
build road to bond parallel with the
HOmeStake than to make combination
with it or buy it. The fact will be, l
fancy, that the Northwestern people
will encourage both narrow gauge en-
terpriSeS, as both must be feeders to the
Elkhorn, and upon such terms as the
latter may dictate-at least, until other
trunk lines come into the Hills.
TOWN RIvALRIES.
An interesting feature in the situation
is the conflicting interests of DeadwoOd
and Lead City. These places are only
three miles apart, but by reason of
geography Lead City has always
been tributary to DeadwoOd. The
suit of this enforced vassalage. Dead
wood has as yet no assurance that the
ElkhOrn extension will come nearer
than ten miles, she being that distance
| off the westward way of the road and up
| a narrow, high grade canyon. There
fore Lead City is already amiably hug
| ging herself in anticipation of having a
railroad before Deadwood does, of turn
| ing the tables and making her neighbor
| pay tribute. A thing that may inter-
fere with this sweet dreams fruition is
| the possibility that the Chapman outfit
| Inlay not make terms with the Home
| make arrangements to go down White
| wood creek direct to Deadwood and
leave Lead City at one side. In that
| case Lead City would get to the Elkhorn
| by extension of the HOmestake, and
| each of the towns would have an outlet.
| This, then, is the situation: The North
| western people are playing the two
narrow gauges against each other; the
| Chapman people are playing Deadwood
and Lead City against each other; Lead
| City is playing HOmeStake against
Chapman, /; nd Deadwood is playing
nothing against nothing, l. e., her own
chances of a road against her own in
| diSpenSable value to all railroad enter
| priSeS of the Hills. l will bet on their
/ all winning what they are playing for.
| But you perceive there is a field for as
much diplomacy as railroad-building
here. ~
| RAPID CITY'S BUDDING BoOMs.
With two railroads building, the
| School of Mines addition and the.
Masonic temple under construction in
addition to private buildings, there is a
| good deal of money to be diSbursed in
Rapid City this year. She is becoming
the business center of the tin interests.
Most of the large deals of the past year
| have been conSummated here. The gold
and silver mines of Pennington county
! are finding purchasers and operators to
an extent heretofore unknown. The
extensive placer works at Hayward
have recently been sold to the party
that is putting in the big fiume to bring
the water of Rapid river to the hill-tops
| above town for water-power and trans
| portation of timber from the hills to this
| place-an enterprise, by the way,
that may cut into the carrying
business of the Chapman narrow.
gauge. Part of the German mines, re-
Gently referred to in these letters, have
been sold to local representatives of
Eastern capital; the Germans getQa
| small sum in money and bunch of
| stock, which is an indication that they
are contracting their heads regarding
the phenomenal value of their prospects.
The construction of narrow-guage roads
! to this point is expected to do more than
attract trade and travel to the place. 1t
is expected to move the construction of
manufactures in wood and the erection
of smelling works, SO long talked of and
| much needed for the Hills. This neceS-
| Sity is more than ever pressing on the
| increasing number of mines that wish
| to ship ore, and is emphasized just now
| by complaint from those who have
| shipped of
SLOW RETURNS,
| mistakes and losses from the managers
Of outside smelters. l learn that the
Retriever company will suesthe Omaha
smelter outfit for shortage in ore and
error in accounts as alleged. More than
| theseipointings towards Rapid City as
a manufacturing center are the antici-
| patiOns that present will bring future
| railroad constructions, as well of narrow
| guage local lines as of trunk lines now
| seeking the Hills. She counts on be-